Global Category Leader - Speciality Products at Aquaflow · Budapest

Company Description

Veolia is a global leader in environmental services, operating across all five continents with nearly 218,000 employees. Specializing in water, energy, and waste management, Veolia designs and implements innovative solutions for decarbonization, depollution, and resource regeneration, supporting communities and industries in their ecological transformation. Within this framework, Water Tech brings together a dedicated team of experienced professionals committed to tackling the world’s most complex challenges related to water scarcity, quality, productivity, and energy. Together, we pursue a shared mission to create a more sustainable future.

Job Description

Global Category Leader - Speciality Products

You will be based in Europe

Remote or hybrid depending on location

Veolia Water Tech is a worldwide leader in water recovery, treatment and reuse. We design and supply a range of water systems for food and beverage applications, municipal water, microelectronics and ultrapure water, and heavy industrial wastewater treatment. As a Global Category Leader - Specialty Products, you will play a pivotal role in shaping our procurement strategy across a substantial spend portfolio of approximately $50M, spanning our global T&P, MWIS and EPP Business Lines. This position offers the opportunity to drive meaningful impact through strategic category management whilst working with diverse stakeholders across multiple regions.

Reporting to the Director, Global Category Management, you will be accountable for creating and executing global category strategies and developing our supply base to deliver annual financial, operational and sustainability targets. Your portfolio will encompass water-specific categories including membranes, IX resins and UV systems, alongside niche sub-categories such as yarn, braids and specialty polymers. You will define contracting strategies, lead supplier negotiations and drive continuous improvements in cost, quality and service delivery.

Working in close collaboration with Procurement Project and Product Leaders, Regional Category Leaders, Technology teams and Supply Chain Leaders, you will influence strategic decisions across business units and ensure alignment with organisational objectives. This role requires a strategic thinker who can balance global standardisation with regional requirements, whilst building robust supplier relationships and mitigating supply chain risks through comprehensive sourcing strategies.

Day-to-Day Duties:

• Define and implement a global category roadmap for managed spend, incorporating water-specific categories and niche sub-categories aligned with business priorities
• Develop and maintain the strategic supplier panel for all sub-categories in accordance with category goals and objectives
• Define contracting strategies and lead supplier negotiations to secure optimal commercial terms and conditions
• Drive annual savings, operational efficiency, sustainability improvements and cash optimisation across assigned categories
• Mitigate business risks by implementing comprehensive sole, single and dual source strategies that ensure supply chain flexibility and continuity
• Develop and execute best cost country strategies that optimise total landed cost across the supply base
• Lead supplier relationship management processes, including periodic business reviews to monitor performance against key performance indicators
• Drive stakeholder alignment on category strategy across business units and publish strategy handbooks for reference

Qualifications

Ideal Skills and Experience:

Hard Skills

• Strategic Sourcing & Category Management Domain Expertise
• Negotiation skills and ability to negotiate contracts & project specific pricing & Terms.
• General understanding of Direct material categories and water treatment technologies (products and operations).
• Familiarity with market trends and key suppliers in the relevant Categories.
• Strategy development and implementation.

Soft Skills

• Excellent verbal/written communication and interpersonal skills, capable of developing presentations and comfortable interacting with internal/external stakeholders and senior management.
• Creative, organized and self-motivated for success.
• Experience in working in different cultures and environments, in a matrixed organization.
• Possesses unquestioned integrity and strong business ethics and leads by example.
• Demonstrates a firm commitment to the company’s values (Solidarity, Performance, Simplicity, Empowerment and Inclusion) and culture.
• Team player with peers to share and implement the best practices.

Education & ExperienceRequired:

• Bachelor’s degree
• Solid experience in Category/Supplier Management, Purchasing, Production Control, Engineering, Product or Project management
• Strategic Sourcing &/ OR Category procurement experience

Preferred - not essential

• Experience/ Expertise in sourcing “water specific categories” like membranes, IX- Resins, Activated Carbon, UV systems etc.
• Experience in working in different cultures and environments, in a matrixed organization.
• Fluency in French

Additional Information

Annual travel required 30%.

As an inclusive company, Veolia is committed to diversity and gives equal consideration to all applications, without discrimination.